xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/symlink.2 (revision ae9172d6cd9432a6a1a56760d86b32c57a66c39c)
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32.\"     from: @(#)symlink.2	6.6 (Berkeley) 3/10/91
33.\"	$Id: symlink.2,v 1.6 1994/04/22 00:13:51 jtc Exp $
34.\"
35.Dd March 10, 1991
36.Dt SYMLINK 2
37.Os BSD 4.2
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm symlink
40.Nd make symbolic link to a file
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Fd #include <unistd.h>
43.Ft int
44.Fn symlink "const char *name1" "const char *name2"
45.Sh DESCRIPTION
46A symbolic link
47.Fa name2
48is created to
49.Fa name1
50.Pf ( Fa name2
51is the name of the
52file created,
53.Fa name1
54is the string
55used in creating the symbolic link).
56Either name may be an arbitrary path name; the files need not
57be on the same file system.
58.Sh RETURN VALUES
59Upon successful completion, a zero value is returned.
60If an error occurs, the error code is stored in
61.Va errno
62and a -1 value is returned.
63.Sh ERRORS
64The symbolic link succeeds unless:
65.Bl -tag -width Er
66.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
67A component of the
68.Fa name2
69prefix is not a directory.
70.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
71A component of a pathname exceeded
72.Dv {NAME_MAX}
73characters, or an entire path name exceeded
74.Dv {PATH_MAX}
75characters.
76.It Bq Er ENOENT
77The named file does not exist.
78.It Bq Er EACCES
79A component of the
80.Fa name2
81path prefix denies search permission.
82.It Bq Er ELOOP
83Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname.
84.It Bq Er EEXIST
85.Fa Name2
86already exists.
87.It Bq Er EIO
88An I/O error occurred while making the directory entry for
89.Fa name2 ,
90or allocating the inode for
91.Fa name2 ,
92or writing out the link contents of
93.Fa name2 .
94.It Bq Er EROFS
95The file
96.Fa name2
97would reside on a read-only file system.
98.It Bq Er ENOSPC
99The directory in which the entry for the new symbolic link is being placed
100cannot be extended because there is no space left on the file
101system containing the directory.
102.It Bq Er ENOSPC
103The new symbolic link cannot be created because there
104there is no space left on the file
105system that will contain the symbolic link.
106.It Bq Er ENOSPC
107There are no free inodes on the file system on which the
108symbolic link is being created.
109.It Bq Er EDQUOT
110The directory in which the entry for the new symbolic link
111is being placed cannot be extended because the
112user's quota of disk blocks on the file system
113containing the directory has been exhausted.
114.It Bq Er EDQUOT
115The new symbolic link cannot be created because the user's
116quota of disk blocks on the file system that will
117contain the symbolic link has been exhausted.
118.It Bq Er EDQUOT
119The user's quota of inodes on the file system on
120which the symbolic link is being created has been exhausted.
121.It Bq Er EIO
122An I/O error occurred while making the directory entry or allocating the inode.
123.It Bq Er EFAULT
124.Fa Name1
125or
126.Fa name2
127points outside the process's allocated address space.
128.El
129.Sh SEE ALSO
130.Xr link 2 ,
131.Xr ln 1 ,
132.Xr unlink 2
133.Sh HISTORY
134The
135.Fn symlink
136function call appeared in
137.Bx 4.2 .
138